A method in which a digital camera and printer are connected directly by wire to perform printing has been proposed. Control information and print data are exchanged between the printer and the digital camera by an operating flow described in, e.g., Patent Document 1 (Patent Registration No. 03530847).
Further, a technique in which a signal is switched between networks of different physical layers is disclosed in, e.g., Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-257119).
In the description that follows, a printer in the present invention refers to one that is connected to a digital camera physically or logically and is capable of receiving data directly from the digital camera.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wired connection between a digital camera 100 and a printer 101. As shown in FIG. 1, the digital camera 100 and the printer 101 are connected directly by a cable 102 such as a USB cable. If image data is to be printed, it is required that the user plug and unplug the cable 102 before and after printing. A wireless system has been considered as a replacement for cables for the purpose of mitigating such a troublesome operation on the part of the user.
It is of course possible to simply adopt a wireless system for a wireless-capable digital camera and wireless-capable printer. However, there is also a need to allow a user who utilizes an existing wire-capable printer to enjoy wireless service by connecting a wireless communication device to the existing wire-capable printer.
However, operation of an existing wire-capable printer is such that when the printer is connected by cable, an operating sequence runs and connects the printer to the digital camera automatically, as set forth in Patent Document 1.
Consequently, when the printer has been connected to a wireless communication device, the connection of the printer to the digital camera will fail if the wireless connection between the wireless-capable digital camera and the wireless communication device has not yet been completed. The result is that the desired printing cannot be performed.
Further, the connection between the wireless communication device and the printer is by USB. In such case the USB device of the wireless communication device is connected to the USB host of the printer. However, there are instances where the USB device of the wireless communication device is connected to a personal computer and network and security information necessary for wireless communication are set in the wireless communication device from the personal computer.
That is, the wireless communication device operates differently depending upon whether the communicating party connected to its USB device is the printer or the personal computer. A problem with the wireless communication device as a consequence is that control suited to a plurality of operation modes must be performed.